Wildlife Agencies Told Not to Care About Endangered Species
Sarah Palin says the causes don’t matter. The Bush Administration admits they do, but says that since there’s no single source of greenhouse gases, wildlife agencies should ignore global warming.
Federal wildlife agencies have been told not to analyze the effects of emissions on species or habitats. This means that if you have a power-plant near a habitat, the agencies aren’t supposed to look into its emissions in relation to global warming effects on the local species…even if the power plant is the only thing in the area, and even if the species are part of the Endangered Species Act.
This all comes from the Interior Department, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) saying that there is no single discernible source to global warming.
So…since we can’t pin down just one cause, we must ignore it completely?
Said Interior Solicitor David Bernhardt on Oct. 3: “Cumulative effects [of global warming] are of no relevance in determining whether a proposed action ‘may affect listed species or critical habitat.’”
From my reading of this, it also seems that power plants or companies that release emissions don’t have to pay attention to what species are endangered under the ESA and if they are affected by global warming before putting up a plant in an area.
I understand that species have generally been put on the list for reasons unrelated to global warming. But polar bears recently made the list, and that is a direct result of global warming. This new order doesn’t take into account that species such as the bears and coral are suffering specifically from climate change.
And it just seems silly to ignore them just because you can’t point to a specific source. This order isn’t even talking about the agencies taking action; it’s telling them not to even look into effects on these species. It would be like if we said we weren’t going to worry about cancer patients because there’s no single source of tumors.
Is this just the Bush Administration trying to throw a few punches in its last days?
You can read the specific documents here: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Related Posts:
Bush versus Everyone Else on Endangered Species Act
The Proposed Neutering of our Endangered Species Act
Photo Credit: chesapeakeclimate at Flickr under a Creative Commons License
